Pies hoping to blitz Blues

Friday, July 30, 2010

Moama and Tongala will lock horns tomorrow in what should be a good match of football, despite an obvious difference in ladder positions.

While Moama is hoping to replicate the 79-point margin which went in its favour the last time the sides played, Tongala will look to put in a much better effort and finish off the season on a good note.

``It will be (tough),'' Tongala coach Brett Armstrong said of the task at hand.

``The last time we played them we put in a reasonably good showing for a half, but then they ran over us.

``Win, lose or draw, if we can put a four-quarter effort together we will be happy. We have to be very accountable against Moama as they are a very good side around the ground.''

Moama co-coach Shannon Keam said while his side would not enter the game with a `Tongala are easy-beats' mentality, they certainly would be expecting to post a fourth straight win.

``If you said to me we would win by 79 points on the weekend, I'd probably take it,'' he said.

``All we can do is go out there and play the side they put on the park.''

The Blues are coming off a much-needed bye last week, which could be a slight advantage.

``We definitely needed a freshen-up,'' Armstrong said.

``A lot of boys got over a lot of little injuries.''

But, the Magpies downed Rumbalara by 31 points last weekend and climbed into third spot on the ladder just four weeks out from finals.

``We are just looking for a four-quarter effort,'' Keam said.

``We're just looking for that consistency from week to week and quarter to quarter. You want to be carrying some sort of confidence and gaining some momentum going into finals.''

Armstrong said while his side had struggled this year, it hoped to be able to take something out of the final few weeks of the season.

``We are still looking to improve. We have a young side and we are still learning every week,'' he said.

Moama has won its past two and four of its past five matches against Tongala.

Ricki Thompson and Daniel Humphries are expected to return to the Blues' line-up while Adrian Pappin is rated a 50-50 chance to play, still struggling with a problem shoulder.

James Scambler returns for Moama after NSW Country commitments last week, while Keam is one of a few players under an injury cloud.

_ Chris Cavanagh